Ogliastra

Ogliastra, a land of many contrasts, of a wild beauty which the hand of man has not managed to tarnish over the centuries, is like an immense natural anfitheatre whose mountainous walls reach right down to the sea with high cliffs designing enchanting inlets and long beaches of many colours.

Rich in minerals, such as basalt and quartz-lined red porphyry not found anywhere else in the world, the territory is covered by forests of ilex and chestnut, but it is certainly not rare to see yew, oak, alder, holly and thousand-year-old olive and juniper. Also the fauna is rich in animal species extinct elsewhere, such as bonelli’s eagle, lamb vulture, peregrine falcon, but also mouflon, fallow and red deer inhabit many of the mountain forests alongside other species of wildlife such as wolves, boars, Sardinian partridges and rabbits.

The seabed is home to a wide variety of fish such as grey mullet, gilthead bream, sea bass, grouper, dentex, mullet, shellfish and crustaceans. In the underwater caves which open into the limestone cliffs along the coast, until just a few years ago it was possible to sight the last examples of monk seals. The lake in Tortolì is an ideal habitat for the wading birds which stop off here during their migration.